Ginny Myers Sain was a breath of fresh air, a book I sat down and read completely through without pause- it had me up until three in the morning because I couldn't stop til I got to the end. And although I will say that- before I got to the killer- I had a little hint of who it might have been- the whole story wasn't known to me. But when it comes to "who done it"- many of the times I can usually pick out the killer. And although I had a slight suspicion, with One Last Breath, I couldn't pin down the whole story or even much of it-
Because this is a book where you are looking for a killer-- however, the question throughout is- are there one or two? In Mount Orange, Florida- the residents "honor" their lost girls- but these girls, Celeste and Bailey, were brutally murdered twenty years ago. And though there was suspicion it was one of the girl's current boyfriends (who is now the mayor)- the killer has never been identified.
But Florida is known for their killers- especially their serial killers- the most notorious- known as the Glade Reaper. While there were thoughts that Celeste and Bailey's murderers could be attributed to the Reaper- how the bodies were posed after the kill, that no trophies were taken, and that something was always left at the crime scene by the killer- none of this happened with the girls murders- only that they were killed as a pair- like the Glade Reaper's victims- and that they occurred at the same time.
Trulee lost her sister- in a horrible accident (that she blames herself for)- and growing up in a community that honors only gruesome murders and victims of unknown killers- no one remembers Trulee's little sister like Celeste and Bailey- except for Trulee.
Celeste and Bailey were murdered before Trulee was born- and when a girl who calls herself Rio shows up in town- the two girls begin to become more than dive partners. It is then that Rio shares a deep secret with Trulee- that she has always known the Glades Reaper has been a part of the murders of Celeste and Bailey- somehow- Rio has always known too much about the murderers of two girls that were killed before she was even born.
And Trulee may know more than she thinks too. But why- and how (the bigger questions)?
Rio can explain how and why she knows this- and it is a surprise that readers won't see coming- as I can be very good with predicting what is going to happen in a book and I didn't see this coming. Not wanting to spoil the fun for readers (because you should be excited)- all I will say is the girls have a connection to the murder victims that help them to solve the murders of Celeste and Bailey. However, they may not be able to do this without getting killed themselves. Because somehow the killers of Celeste and Bailey are on to Rio and Trulee- and he lets them know it.
One Last Breath won't end without someone ending up dead- who will it be? The girls or their cast of family- those who they dive with. That was another aspect of the book that I loved- learning about diving without equipment. One of the many things the author shared that I didn't know about was that when you dive, as you get to thirty-five or forty feet, "your own natural buoyancy stops pushing you to the surface. Once you hit that spot, descending gets easier, because you don't have to swim down anymore. You put your arms to the sides, like a skydiver, and let yourself free-fall effortlessly toward the bottom."
As the girls learn more and more about their life- and it gets deeper and deeper- as does the diving they do together- as they push their limits more and more- they begin to feel a deep connection- romantic love and more- possibly a soul love- a soul connection that lasts beyond what they know in this world. Trulee has had a boyfriend, East, for almost her entire life- what will happen- because of this deep and lasting bond that Trulle learns she has with Rio- almost instantly?
The author gives readers a lot to think about with this story- a main theme shared is also the aspect of what it can be like to grow up in a town that is obsessed with murders- who take a person's (or people's) murder- and make it a main focus of a place and the life there- with all the murder tourists, bloggers- all that comes with "advertising" the suffering of others.
Because while we think that doing things like this- honoring the dead in this way- why is it that there is always something that "smells off" about it? Is an unsolved murder- even when we are just honoring the victims of it- something we want to be the main focus of a time or place? Do we want something like that to define the people that we are today? And what will people in the future think- when they look back on us- as we do the people of the past?
A murder mystery, a romantic tale- a fluidly loving (and loveable) main character- with a healthy dose of the supernatural- One Last Breath by Ginny Myers Sain is a book readers won't want to miss out on- and an author that readers need to follow (for more). If you haven't already read the author- this is the place to start.
Happy Reading
Because this is a book where you are looking for a killer-- however, the question throughout is- are there one or two? In Mount Orange, Florida- the residents "honor" their lost girls- but these girls, Celeste and Bailey, were brutally murdered twenty years ago. And though there was suspicion it was one of the girl's current boyfriends (who is now the mayor)- the killer has never been identified.
But Florida is known for their killers- especially their serial killers- the most notorious- known as the Glade Reaper. While there were thoughts that Celeste and Bailey's murderers could be attributed to the Reaper- how the bodies were posed after the kill, that no trophies were taken, and that something was always left at the crime scene by the killer- none of this happened with the girls murders- only that they were killed as a pair- like the Glade Reaper's victims- and that they occurred at the same time.
Trulee lost her sister- in a horrible accident (that she blames herself for)- and growing up in a community that honors only gruesome murders and victims of unknown killers- no one remembers Trulee's little sister like Celeste and Bailey- except for Trulee.
Celeste and Bailey were murdered before Trulee was born- and when a girl who calls herself Rio shows up in town- the two girls begin to become more than dive partners. It is then that Rio shares a deep secret with Trulee- that she has always known the Glades Reaper has been a part of the murders of Celeste and Bailey- somehow- Rio has always known too much about the murderers of two girls that were killed before she was even born.
And Trulee may know more than she thinks too. But why- and how (the bigger questions)?
Rio can explain how and why she knows this- and it is a surprise that readers won't see coming- as I can be very good with predicting what is going to happen in a book and I didn't see this coming. Not wanting to spoil the fun for readers (because you should be excited)- all I will say is the girls have a connection to the murder victims that help them to solve the murders of Celeste and Bailey. However, they may not be able to do this without getting killed themselves. Because somehow the killers of Celeste and Bailey are on to Rio and Trulee- and he lets them know it.
One Last Breath won't end without someone ending up dead- who will it be? The girls or their cast of family- those who they dive with. That was another aspect of the book that I loved- learning about diving without equipment. One of the many things the author shared that I didn't know about was that when you dive, as you get to thirty-five or forty feet, "your own natural buoyancy stops pushing you to the surface. Once you hit that spot, descending gets easier, because you don't have to swim down anymore. You put your arms to the sides, like a skydiver, and let yourself free-fall effortlessly toward the bottom."
As the girls learn more and more about their life- and it gets deeper and deeper- as does the diving they do together- as they push their limits more and more- they begin to feel a deep connection- romantic love and more- possibly a soul love- a soul connection that lasts beyond what they know in this world. Trulee has had a boyfriend, East, for almost her entire life- what will happen- because of this deep and lasting bond that Trulle learns she has with Rio- almost instantly?
The author gives readers a lot to think about with this story- a main theme shared is also the aspect of what it can be like to grow up in a town that is obsessed with murders- who take a person's (or people's) murder- and make it a main focus of a place and the life there- with all the murder tourists, bloggers- all that comes with "advertising" the suffering of others.
Because while we think that doing things like this- honoring the dead in this way- why is it that there is always something that "smells off" about it? Is an unsolved murder- even when we are just honoring the victims of it- something we want to be the main focus of a time or place? Do we want something like that to define the people that we are today? And what will people in the future think- when they look back on us- as we do the people of the past?
A murder mystery, a romantic tale- a fluidly loving (and loveable) main character- with a healthy dose of the supernatural- One Last Breath by Ginny Myers Sain is a book readers won't want to miss out on- and an author that readers need to follow (for more). If you haven't already read the author- this is the place to start.
Happy Reading